The Faerie Curses

Chapter Fifty Two: Stolen Breaths

Hall dropped limply out of the sky, his eyes growing wide with disbelief as his hands found the hilt of the dagger imbedded in his heart.

He didn't speak as the wind seemed to gather him up and force him towards the blazing city below. His limbs were light as the air thrusted him into a deep plummet, but there was just enough time for our gazes to collide for the very last moment.

My brother did not need words to express his final thoughts before I watched his eyes glaze into filmy, unblinking stillness. I understood him just by watching the last twitching of his lips.

This wasn't how it should have ended.

I squeezed my eyes shut as he smashed heavily onto the scorched streets. I couldn't bring myself to see what had happened to Hall's body, fearing the the gruesome image of observing his broken bones bent at unnatural angles as the impact pushed them out of his flesh.

Hall was dead. The Master of the sprites was dead. My brother was dead.

I couldn't find it within myself to mourn him; all I felt was a hollow drumming in my chest as I struggled to present myself with some kind of satisfaction. There was none. When you have killed so many in your life, violence loses its rush. It looses its pleasure the more you coat your own hands in blood. The act becomes empty.

All I wanted now was for the death to end.

As I hovered there in midair, so far above the battle and dying embers of Summer Court, I couldn't help but wonder if such darkness existed this far into the sky. Were countless of people truly dying as the heavens remained so peaceful above them?

I could nearly touch the sun as it's rays bathed my face in warm light for the final time.

That's when I found my breath knocked from my lungs in a crushing blow from inside my body. Blinding, stark white exploded in front of my eyes, blanketing my vision in nothingness. I gasped and wheezed for air, but all I drew in were needles scratching against my throat. All of my limbs seemed to freeze, unable to move as my numbing fingers brushed against my collarbone.

I couldn't feel my own heartbeat anymore.

Buzzing static filled my ears as my wings crumpled like gossamer paper, folding together in a jumbled clump as their magic leaked out of them. I couldn't even let out a scream as I realized there was nothing that could keep me soaring into the sky. The only thing I could do was let gravity suck me into its embrace, hurtling me out of the golden clouds and towards the earth at a dizzying speed.

My body flailed uselessly in the air as I dropped, unable to even move as I was tossed and rolled by the roaring winds. I was thrashed in the currents, dragged closer and closer to the city. Soon, the buildings and cottages ablaze with fire that lay beneath me had become blurs of flickering red and orange.

Streaks of color against white. Rasping. Scattered thoughts begging for life. Tumbling chaos.

"Marissa!"

My neck snapped back, sending jolts of excruciating pain reverberating through every nerve in my body as I felt arms close around me. Breaking my fall, they held me tightly as I found myself crashing against a strong, sturdy chest beneath me.

I blinked feverishly as my body convulsed, giving in to the curse that was stealing away the last heartbeats of my life. Slowly, I could see the blurs and shapes of color melting together and hardening in front of me, forming the spires and towers of Summer Palace as it loomed above my head. I could faintly sense slabs of stone beneath my scraped palms. The steps of the castle. It took a long time for the haze in my head to finally clear, for me to reach through the thick blurs to find pair of electric green eyes gazing up at me.